EU And US Urge Georgia To Halt Its 'Foreign Agents' Bill

The government of Georgia is under international pressure to abandon its plans to designate certain organisations foreign agents”.

- FELIX LIGHT

The European Union said the bill – which would require organisations receiving more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence – would damage the country’s hopes of joining the EU, while the US government said the bill could stifle dissent and free speech.

The proposals have sparked mass protests and a deepening political crisis in the country. Georgia’s parliament has approved the second reading of the bill, which the opposition says is inspired by a similar law in Russia. It called the bill potentially authoritarian.

It came as police fired tear gas and stun grenades to clear a large crowd of protesters in the capital Tbilisi.

The government says the law is needed to ensure that foreign funding of NGOs is transparent, but critics say it could fuel a Russian-style crackdown on dissent. A similar bill became law in Russia in 2012, and has since been used to suppress those criticising the Kremlin and Russian president Vladimir Putin, including prominent cultural figures, media organisations and civil society groups.